So what did happen to actor Bruce Willis’ music career?
American actor Bruce Willis (b.1955) made his name in the 1986 TV series Moonlighting with Cybill Shepherd. He had been acting since the beginning of the decade, but what is not well known or well remembered is his short lived career as a singer! Bruce recorded the song “Good Lovin'” for the soundtrack of the hit TV show, which was released in 1987 and reached No.5 in the UK and No.50 Stateside. That same year, Willis released his debut single, “Respect Yourself”, a cover of The Staple Brothers 1971 hit.
The song went to No.5 in the US and No.7 in the UK and it seemed that Bruce was the new darling of the box office and music charts the world over. The song was the first to come from his debut album, “The Return Of Bruno”, released at the beginning of 1987, which would make the top ten in the UK and No.14 on the US albums chart. A total of five singles were lifted from the album, most successful was his cover of The Drifters 1965 single, “Under The Boardwalk”, which Willis would take to No.2 in the UK, although this fared less well at home, managing No.59 there. Only one other song, “Young Blood”, was released Stateside (No.68), which two further singles made only a small impact in the UK following the big success of “Under The Boardwalk”.
Bruce was back in 1989 for his second album, this time of all new material and not cover versions. “If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger”, featured the lead single “Save the Last Dance For Me”, which sadly didn’t do much either side of the Atlantic and the album bombed. Bruce didn’t give up his singing entirely. He contributed the songs “Swinging On A Star” and “Side By Side” for the soundtrack of the 1991 film ‘Hudson Hawk’ and revived his music career in early 2000 with “Tenth Avenue Tango” from the film ‘The Whole Nine Yards’ while in 2003 he dueted with The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde on the song “Big Bad Cat” for the film ‘Rugrats Go Wild’. While he continues to make films as an actor and a producer, Bruce has clearly given up the microphone as a recording artist. For now, anyway…!
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